Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 13, 2026
Economical and Efficient Protocol for Isolating and Culturing Bone Marrow-derived Dendritic Cells from Mice
Published on: July 1, 2022
Protocol for co-culture of murine bone marrow-derived dendritic cells with OT-I mouse CD8+ T cells to evaluate immune
Min Jiang1, Dana Matzek2, Anny Nguyen3
1Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Department of Pharmacy, Butenandtstraße 5, 81377 Munich, Germany; Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Munich, Germany.
Preliminary evaluation of vaccine-induced immune activation can be performed with minimal animal use, in line with the principles of the 3Rs (replacement, reduction, and refinement) in animal experimentation. Here, we present a protocol to assess murine antigen-specific CD8+ T cell activation using a co-culture model of bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs) and OT-I transgenic CD8+ T cells. We describe the steps for transfecting BMDCs with antigen-encoding mRNA formulations and assessing T cell responses after co-culture by intracellular cytokine staining and proliferation. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Jiang et al.1.
Preliminary evaluation of vaccine-induced immune activation can be performed with minimal animal use, in line with the principles of the 3Rs (replacement, reduction, and refinement) in animal experimentation. Here, we present a protocol to assess murine antigen-specific CD8+ T cell activation using a co-culture model of bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs) and OT-I transgenic CD8+ T cells. We describe the steps for transfecting BMDCs with antigen-encoding mRNA formulations and assessing T cell responses after co-culture by intracellular cytokine staining and proliferation. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Jiang et al.1.
